Outweighing
by Chemical Nova
Summary: After an incident that almost costs Sparks his life, Niobe learns something new about her operator, and the way life is. First time fic, please R and R.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix, the Enter the Matrix game or any place, object or name you recognise. I do not own Niobe, Sparks or Ghost (unless the people that do would like to give them to me as a present? _Looks hopefully at them_). Moon and the storyline itself belongs to me.

Authors note: Basically, this is my fist fic, and due to the severe lack of stories about the crew of the Logos out there, I decided to write my own. This is only a short, and slightly dubious, fic which doesn't have that great a storyline because I was busy trying hard to keep everyone in character. Please read and review and tell me if I succeeded or if I should just chuck myself to the sentinels. Constructive criticism very welcome, but please be nice as I've never done this before. (I also know that the title isn't great, but it's the best I could come up with).

**Outweighing**

The Logos went crashing down into the dark waters of the tunnel. Metal screeched around the crew and water began pouring into the decks.

"We need to get to the tunnel walls and climb up" Niobe yelled to Sparks and Ghost.

"But Captain, there are sentinels out there, it's suicide!" Sparks complained.

"Sparks, shut up! Just do it!" she shouted back. He shut up and she turned to Ghost. "We'll have to swim for it." Water began rising around their feet.

"But Captain-"

"Shut up Sparks!" she yelled again, failing to notice that this time the fear in his eyes bordered on terror. Niobe opened the outer hatch to reveal the deep waters of the tunnel below. She pulled Ghost and Sparks up next to her. "Come on, we have to jump". Then, grabbing their arms, she jumped and the crew of the Logos plunged into the depths below.

As they went under, Niobe let go, leaving them to swim for the tunnel walls. Sparks felt himself go down, the black water rushing around him. He flailed his arms, and for one desperate moment reached the surface and got a breath of precious air, before he was swallowed back under.

Sparks struggled against the suffocating water, blinded and deafened by the murky depths around him. His lungs were on fire and his vision began to go grey. He reflexively tried to gasp for air, breathing water instead of oxygen. Everything began to go dark and fuzzy, and he stopped struggling. An incredible tiredness came over him, but then arms grabbed him, helping him to the surface. Suddenly air came rushing to his lungs and he gasped, coughing violently. Someone was pulling him to the side and he was hauled up onto an outcropping at the wall of the tunnel.

Sparks rolled onto his side, retching water and drawing much needed air into his lungs. He pressed the side of his face to the ground, his eyes closed and his body shaking with exhaustion. He felt a hand on his shoulder and faintly registered that Ghost had been trying to talk to him for some time.

"Sparks, are you okay? Please answer me!" Ghost's usually calm voice was laced with urgency and concern.

Sparks would have loved to have sarcastically replied that he'd just swallowed half the water in the tunnel, so **_of course_** he was fine, but he didn't have the breath.

"Yeah", he managed to grunt between gasps for air.

"What the hell happened? I told you to swim for the sides!" Niobe sounded angry rather then worried that he'd almost drowned.

"I..tried to…tell you Captain" Sparks muttered shakily, "but..you told ..me to shut..up".

Niobe looked frustrated. "Tell me what?".

He opened his eyes to look at her incredulously. "I'm Zion born…remember?" he pointed out, his voice still breathless. Niobe and Ghost just stared at him, then as realisation dawned, Niobe put a hand to her mouth and looked incredibly guilty.

"I am so sorry Sparks" she told him, looking horrified, "I sometimes forget you're Zion born and I just didn't think".

Sparks sat up, his breathing evened out somewhat.

"Next time, could you at least give me time to explain that I _can't swim_ before pulling me into a 30ft pool of water?" he asked, "Then maybe I won't almost drown".

**_EnterthematrixEnterthematrixEnterthematrixEnterthematrixEnterthematrix_**

The crew was picked up by the Icarus a few hours later, and the Logos was pulled from the waters and taken to Zion for extensive repairs.

To Niobe' annoyance, the Logos and her crew were going to be grounded for several weeks. Most days she took to wandering Zion to try and dispel her boredom. It was early in the evening and tonight she had ended up in the gardens.

To her surprise she saw Sparks up ahead. She was even more surprised when she saw that a small girl of 4 was with him. They were stood at one of the spots where you could look down over the lower levels of the city.

The little girl was curiously peering down at the numerous walkways and lights of Zion, held securely by Sparks so she couldn't fall. Niobe smiled at the way he patiently listened to her chatter, pointing things out for her and answering her insistent questions.

Apparently satisfied, the child climbed down under Sparks watchful eyes. She held up her hand obediently and he took it, walking her back up along the path. He spotted Niobe for the first time.

"Captain?" he asked, a little surprised and unnerved by her appearance.

She approached him and smiled at the way the little girl shyly hid behind his legs. Sparks also smiled at the child and gently untangled her. "Moon, this is Captain Niobe" he reassured her.

The girl's wide green eyes grew bright and curious, looking at Niobe in awe.

"I'm Moon" she said shyly, "Uncle Sparks says you're the best pilot in Zion and that your ship is really, really fast".

Niobe raised an eyebrow at Sparks and he flushed. "Really?" she said, sounding amused.

Moon nodded happily. "I want to be a pilot too" she told Niobe. Then, in that strange way that small children do, she suddenly became sleepy. She yawned and held up her hands.

Sparks obviously understood this signal, because he automatically lifted her into his arms. Moon wound her tiny arms around his neck and snuggled against him sleepily.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Niobe teased, and Sparks scowled at her.

"You tell anyone about this and they'll never find your body, Niobe" he warned.

She laughed, then looked at Moon. "She's beautiful Sparks. I didn't know you had a niece."

He shrugged, "Yeah, she belongs to one of my sisters. I said I'd watch her for a few hours".

Niobe smiled, looking at him curiously. "How many sisters do you have?"

"Four" he said casually, and smirked at the look on Niobe's face. "And no brothers" he added, "growing up was hell, they'd gang up on me".

Niobe shook her head unbelievingly, "Wow, I bet that was fun" she muttered.

Sparks made a face, "You have no idea".

Niobe laughed, then grew serious. "Sparks, I'm really sorry I didn't listen to you earlier".

"Hey, it's fine. I mean the stuff that usually comes out of my mouth is never worth listening to" he said, shrugging off her apology, "I just caught you by surprise, having something important to say for once".

"Yeah, but still I should have remembered Sparks" she argued, sighing. "I mean, I sometimes forget that you weren't born in the Matrix, and that things me and Ghost know are things you've never had the chance or need to learn."

Sparks just gave a small smile, shifting Moon to get a better hold of her. The tiny form stirred in his arms and he laid a hand softly on her auburn head to shush her.

Niobe was fascinated, she'd never seen this gentle side to the operator before. He noticed that she was watching him, "What? He asked self consciously. "You" she said, looking at him and grinning. "All this time me and Ghost thought we had you figured out and then I find out that there's much more to you than meets the eye." He shrugged awkwardly, shy of his Captains sudden scrutiny of his character.

They walked for a few minutes in silence. Sparks looked thoughtful.

"You know, being born in Zion may mean that I don't know how to swim, but other things make up for it" he commented, looking down at the child sleeping in his arms. Niobe smiled, knowing without asking what he was referring to.

"Well, that's the way life works doesn't it?" she said as they walked towards the docks to see how the repairs to the Logos were coming. She knew that Ghost would enjoy meeting the tiny child and Moon would love to see the ship."There will always be bad things in life, and the good things will always outweigh them".

_And, inside the Matrix, Thomas Anderson was woken by a strange beeping from his computer, Not knowing that his time was coming to outweigh the bad._

_The end_

Please R&R. _ChemicalNova_


End file.
